The Voyage of the Crow
by PacificiusMaximus
Summary: Two contests, alike in essence yet separated by thousands of miles. And the clash of these identical sports all begins with an assemblage of dissenters being shanghaied to a foreign school. Ooarai Girl's Academy to be more precise. A Fanfiction, of course.
1. Chapter 0: Background Intelligence

[Preface: Now, to begin, I would quite like to have input on this story, for I believe in an active relationship between writer and reader, for each are an essential part of any good story arc. Reviews, messages, poems, all are acceptable to me, if not wanted. If I have made some grave error in the weaving of this tale or have broken continuity, tell me, and I will (to the best of my ability) attempt to rectify the situation or, if you have an idea that may improve the story, please, send them to me. I have never claimed to be a master at writing, so half of the difficulty in this could easily be solved by help from you, the reader. Thank You.

Now the chapters of this story are in an interesting set up, dual (or maybe more depending how it goes) views of the same events and all, however, if you wish to preserve one for later and read one view point at a time just check the heading of a chapter for either 'Viewpoint Papa' or 'Viewpoint Sierra' and do what you wish. I will attempt to add to this as often as I can, and once again, thank you. And also, anything in brackets are author's notes, but anything in parentheses are not.]

**Viewpoint Sierra, 16:45**

"Hey. Hey guys.** Guys**.** We got a problem here!**" I heard our co driver, Adley, squeaked as he attempted to raise anybody, anywhere to help us in little predicament we had gotten ourselves into.

"They are definitely not gonna make it before these idiots see us." I heard someone say, and scoffed at it. I took a deep breath, then exhaled, half hoping we'd be missed, and half hoping we'd be found, just to get this over with. The M36 'Jackson' Gun Motor Carriage was about a hundred yards away knocking down the small, young trees that populated this grove, and was creeping slowly closer to our position, like it was searching for something. It had been trawling this area for a while now, and would find our poorly hidden M3 Stuart any minute. The odds were definitely not in our favor if we were found. I, along with the rest of my crew were beginning to break. For not only was the heat of this forest beginning to fry us in our little tin can, and that isn't to mention that a 20 tons of hot, angry steel was strolling towards us, possibly unaware of our existence. Although that might change any second since they were now dangerously close. Suddenly, a plan jumped into my mind, I shared it with the crew.

"Alright, here's how we're gonna get ourselves out of this little hole. Adley, keep trying to raise help. But, if they do notice us I want Salt to fire a round, and Captain to get us the hell out of here the second he does."

"Aye" I heard our gunner, Leland Salt, reply, quietly as I gingerly placed a shell into the breach and closed it. Mention 'That Thing', I'm quite sure it's stopped. It also might be turning its turret in our direction. Crap.

"**Salt**, fire why don't ya?!" The 37mm gun of the Stuart spat at the Jackson, the shell impacting the turret, before glancing off. The turret of the M36 stopped for a moment while the crew recoiled from the ricochet. Not a moment passed until our driver, 'Captain' Morgan Hosteen, roared the M3's engine into life and accelerated past the side and then around the rear of the Jackson. But, by then, the turret had begun to turn once more, attempting to track the Stuart for a moment, until the Jackson's engine growled, and the entire tank heaved once more and turned towards us, who were now little more than a receding cloud of upturned plants and dust. We plowed through the foliage, basically blind, while I attempted to reload the M3's 37 millimeter gun, with little success. I ignored my lack of expertise, for I had done what I planned to do and that's what matters.

"I'm pretty sure we're clear of those trees!" yelled Salt, giving me the green light to open the commander's hatch, which I did and stood up into in one fluid motion, to be smacked hard and square in the face by a tree's leaves, which hurt a lot more than I expected them to and also left a nasty red mark on my face. Fighting through the sting, I shouted down below

"Liar!" I could hear Salt almost silently snickering below. I glanced behind us, to find the Jackson poised at the treeline, attempting to line up a shot. "Zig-zags Captain, zig-zags!" I shouted down again, to which Captain quickly responded, throwing the Stuart into a set of quick, random course changes. The Jackson's gun roared, but its shell went wild, landing a good two or three yards ahead of the Stuart's left track, showering me with soil and letting a considerable portion enter the tank's cabin. I then heard the sound of a loud pop over the roar of the wind and the Stuart's engine, then the sound of a shell whizzing through the air above us, and into the Jackson, emitting sparks as it entered and causing the Jackson to shudder from the impact. It took a moment for it recollect itself and then lurch backwards into the brush from whence it came. As it did, I began searching for the producer of that shell, scanning the horizon of the nearby hills, one of which I ordered Captain to climb in case that Jackson attempted to pursue us, although I thought it very unlikely their commander would be that brain dead. As we reached the summit, we found our guardian angels, a pair of M4 Sherman medium tanks. Which were positioned well, their hulls masked by the reverse slope of the hill, and began to train their guns towards us, and then stopped and returned to their original positions once our alliance was obvious from our school insignia on the side of the turret, a caricature of a crow in flight. I then instructed Captain to drive between them and then cut the engine, which he did. Once we stopped between the two tanks and the engine was silenced, the heat of the air hit me, and I saw the hatches of the Sherman to our left open, and a friendly face appear.

"Is that the second or third time I've had to save your butt?!" Nick Olson called at me, his reddish hair and forehead streaked with dust, a smile crossing his face.

"Fourth I'm sure!" I yelled back as Captain, Salt and Adley opened their respective hatches, filling the interior of the tank with fresh air. Nick changed the subject.

"So that was one hell-of-a spot for you to stuck in!" Nick was always that kind of guy who universally liked, and according to some, should have been our team commanding officer.

"I believe that McClay is now officially out to get us." I replied, Nick chuckled.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all."

"I'm actually kinda surprised that you were still in the field, seeing as your session's over and done. I mean it's understandable with_ your_ radioman." I sucked in a big breath before yelling into the cabin

"_Damn it Adley and your freaking radio!_"

"Sorry!"

**-18:13 Local-**

Later as light was fading, our team gathered together for our after battle debrief, to make small talk and discuss what had happened, I reported to our team's CO the moment we dismounted, leaving my crew to do whatever they pleased. When I returned with my debriefing kit, they were spread out about the tank, with Salt and Captain playing a game of cards in front of the Stuart and Adley messing with the radio antenna on the back of the turret. However, once I approached, the crew coalesced closer together around the front of the tank and waited for me to speak."Alright, first, good job to all of you, you performed admirably during toda-"

"Except for somebody." interjected Salt, gritting his teeth and turning to Adley, who was sitting on the tank's turret. Salt had always been kind of a jerk, although he had a good reason to, he had basically been raised off of tanks, and Salt didn't allowed anything less than excellence in the game of Tankary, not to mention he only had another year to go until he was out of school. At this, Adley averted Salt's gaze, his face turned a shade of red. I scowled at Salt for his insubordination and continued,

"You all performed admirably during today's skirmish, although we did not really take part in the main action, which I blame you-know-who for, which was more towards the area of Blight's Hill, our team did manage to destroy almost the entire opposing force, forcing College Park's team to surrender after we broke through their main battle line yada yada yada. Destroyed this, destroyed that. Also-" An unusual note with our CO's handwriting on it had also been added to my kit, and I stopping my briefing and began skimming through it. 'Transfer program. Report to McClay for further instruction. Now!'. With 'Now!' being underlined three times. I decided that this would probably be more interesting than some stupid debriefing and began to walk towards the CO's tank, one of our team's prized M26 Pershing heavy tanks, motioning my crew to follow. The Pershings which were, of course, on the other side of our temporary motor pool, and were some of the biggest assets we had. Most other schools had maybe one, while we had a total of three, which reflect the fact that our school was basically a military academy of sorts. After finding our way through a maze of tanks, I saw the side of one of our Pershings and the figure of Harold McClay leaning on it, reading something off a clipboard. Harold McClay was our team's commanding officer and was a knowitall, short, snappy, and attempted, at least, to run our program more like a military outfit then a sports team. Then again my opinion is almost definitely biased since it was his belief that the new guy should basically be the butt-monkeys of the entire team, which he tried to impose on poor little Adley, which I objected to. In turn I had been moved from being a commander on a M4A2 Sherman to the commander of our only M3A3 Stuart as his way of punishing me. I could also see that he had spotted us coming, and had pulled a pen from his pocket. I stopped and saluted, something McClay had insisted on doing for no real reason, before approaching him further.

"Afternoon Fancourt." He replied, returning my salute with a slight smirk. "I guess you got my card then?"

"That I did." I said, becoming more and more infuriated with his demeanor

"Well, I've been told that to ask a team to be sent as a consultation group. Some other schools are doin' it, however, this is the first time we've done. Whaddya say?" I paused, considering the idea, but I was disturbed by a interjection by Salt, who had been silent until then

"What?!" Salt exclaimed, inquisitively, probably only catching half of what McClay had actually said.

"That's right," McClay replied, pushing past me towards my crew, hoping to gain their support. "you're all to be sent overseas as consultants for a up and coming Tankery team. Your to pack and be ready for transport on Tuesday, at dawn. Understand?" he paused for effect. Either that or to collect his thoughts. "You're also expected to try and learn something while on this excursion, and don't even consider this a vacation, or so help me I will make your lives miserable when I get back." He did that anyway.

"Yessir!" Repeated Salt, Adley, Captain and me in trained unison,

"Commander Fancourt, I assume you will also understand if we have your M3A3 serviced before your crew leaves, and will also be given a new coat of paint?" McClay asked, as if he was baiting an answer out of me, still with that stupid smirk

"Of course, sir, we are to represent the school are we not?" I replied, gritting my teeth slightly, still somewhat shocked by the news. I noticed that this had gone from optional to mandatory exercise.

"Yes, of course, and mentioning school, I hope you understand that I expect that you will continue your drills and exercises, not to mention you all are to talk to your instructors and secure some independent study material?" McClay said, slightly annoyed, shaking his pen at me.

"Of course." I replied, smiling at McClay's annoyance. He saluted, signaling the exchange was over. I returned his salute, turned on my heels and began back towards our little Stuart. My crew followed suit, and as we did, I glanced over my shoulder as McClay disappeared from sight, and could see him furiously writing something. I just didn't like him at all.

"So what now?" I heard Salt ask, a good amount of excitement. I paused momentarily before responding

"We pack up our gear, say our goodbyes and ship out of this hellhole." I chuckled. Adley began to protest, confused  
"But didn't CO say that-"

"Balls to McClay. Come Tuesday, we're free!" I replied, overpowering his voice with my own. I saw Captain nod his head in agreement, just as we reached our Stuart. We mounted up and prepared to head back to our campus. Crowbank was a different, interesting school, mostly because because it once had been a full fledged military academy. However, no one had really told the administrators that it had become a civilian school, so it still retained a very militaristic flavor. It was also the reason we had three magnificent Pershings. And then we had our little M3 Stuart. A little tank built to fight other tanks its own size, not one twice or three times its size, in the case of the Pershing. In fact, Tankery in these parts was quite bland, teams contained mostly Shermans, Lees, Pershings, Rams, Stuarts and the occasional T-29 or Gun Carriage. Although I guess it also meant a team couldn't win just by sheer material advantage, but had to win with thee use of tactics and skill. Or luck. Either way, Crowbank was good at it. And it, unlike most other schools, actually funded their program quite well, and was on its way to become an actual class, while other school were downing the size of their teams or dismembering them completely and selling them for scrap. Which was quite a shame truth be told. I like tanks, not Tankery so much, but I enjoyed the mechanical parts, which made it kinda funny in a twisted way that I became snared into Tankery from being one of the Auto Shop students that worked on the team's tanks for extra credits towards graduation. Then they stuck me on a Sherman after one of their commanders left the school days before the official Tankary season, a little under a year ago. Thrusted into my position I did the best I could, and we did relatively well during the season and had a shot at the regional championship for a while. Either way, after my struggle with McClay, I got knocked down a notch to be on the M3A3 Stuart, which had not been used before since it was pretty useless, and still was, against tanks almost triple our size. And so was my experience in Tankery, so far.


	2. Chapter 1: A Manifesto

**Viewpoint Papa, 15:43 Local**

I had been called, again, before our Student Council president, Anzu Kadotani, with some hints that whatever my presence was necessary for, had to do with the Sensha-do team, which was rapidly approaching our first match. We had trained heavily, practicing maneuvers and shooting, and with the match with St. Gloriana bearing down on us at an alarming rate, I was hoping whatever news Anzu was to give it was positive. Both Hana and Yukari had insisted that they come with me, and against my better judgement I allowed them to accompany me. Although the support might come in handy since the last time I had been in Anzu's office, I had been pressed into serving in Ooarai's Sensha-do team, against my own will. As we approached Anzu's office, we placed bets on what Anzu had called me for, I was half heartedly hoping that it might be a cancellation of her previous order, although I severely doubted that I would have that kind of luck. Flanked by Hana and Yukari, I entered the cool, dark air of Anzu's office, which for some reason the lights were never on in, probably just add to the atmosphere of the place or keep it cool in the heat, and found her with Momo Kawashima, but no Yuzu Koyama in sight. I was hoping to play off that point, and not seem to blunt or aggressive.

"Where's Yuzu?" Anzu and Momo seemed less then surprised by our presence, Momo spoke first

"She's doing errands for us. I guess you're here regarding shensha-do, right?" She was being quite blunt, although I suppose she somewhat always was.

"Yes I am." I replied. Yuzu seemed to do a lot of errands come to think of it. Anzu now spoke, with excitement.

"Well, you're in luck! We got a message from a foreign school about some transfer students their sending to us." A pause. Hana seized it to ask a question.

"Transfer students?" A spot of confusion in her voice, then again I was also was asking how did a set of transfer students, and foreign transfer students at that, have anything to do with Sensha-do or the Sensha-do team? Momo spoke again.

"From where or from whom, we're not too interested, however they have claimed to have sent us a M26 Pershing panzer along with the students, who apparently are trained in Panzerkraft." This was surprising, a school would just send us a panzer for what I perceived as no real reason.

"And they might arrive before our first match too!" Added Anzu, while Momo stepped away and searched for something in the piles of paper about. This development I was not expecting at all. A sixth panzer, and a relatively large one at that, much heavier than any of our current vehicles, and better armed. And maybe before our match with St. Gloriana to add, where against the heavy armor of Churchills and Matildas it would be greatly appreciated. This was definitely good news, even if they would only have a day or two at most to practice with us. Yukari was ecstatic.

"A Pershing! Really?" Anzu nodded her head in agreement, although she seemed less interested in the panzer itself and more the fact it would definitely disrupt any strategy St. Gloriana had planned, although I suspect that such a vehicle would also severely agitate our own plans. Momo approached me, handed me a sheet of paper with someone's handwriting on it, it looked as if it had been scribbled in panic, or with enthusiasm.

"Here's the manifest of all we're to receive. Don't lose it." There was some sense of snappiness in Momo's voice, as there always was, a sort of discipline that seemed more akin to my former school, Kuromorimine Woman's College, which was far removed from Ooarai. Anzu then made plain that we were excused, so we thanked them both and left their office, bumping into Yuzu, who looked a little tired, but happy, on our way out.

"I guess you got Anzu's message?" She asked with a smile, something she wore almost as a habit.

"Yes we have, it's great news!" I replied, delighted with this new development. She just smiled and passed by, back into the office we had just come from. As we walked back through the now silent halls of our school, which naturally vacated minutes after the end of class, leaving the facility occupied by people with either sports, Sensha-do, or other electives that required activities outside of class time. As we walked, Yukari asked if she could have the manifest, and, although I suspect that Momo would not appreciate me letting Yukari just have such a important piece of paper, she was very interested in reading the manifest. I gave it to her and she began to read it out loud to both me and Hana as we walked through the school, giving her own commentary as she went.

"Vehicles: M26 Heavy. Even though the Pershing isn't really a heavy panzer at all." She paused to clear her throat. "Equipment: Approximately one hundred shells for M26's main gun and one thousand rounds for M26's machine guns. Well at least they're willing to bring ammunition instead of forcing us to find some."

"What kind of main gun does the Pershing have?" Hana asked, she didn't know all that much about panzers or Sensha-do, but she was trying to learn as quickly as possible. Yukari on the other hand, seem full of knowledge on the subject of panzers, down to what type of grousers a panzer had.

"I think it was the 90 millimeter M3, either that or it was the 76 millimeter M1A1, which was the gun on the Sherman Easy Eight." Or the exact type and model of gun a panzer had apparently. I had already decided to begin the reworking of planned ambush we were to use during our battle with St. Gloriana to use our newest weapon to its full potential, although that may have not been the best decision, regarding that it might not arrive before our match, or even arrive at all. I asked Yukari the question which would determine this new panzer's usenin the upcoming match.

"Would the 76 be able to pierce a Churchill's armor?" Yukari paused and looked off into space, contemplating an answer.

"The 90 definitely could, however, the 76 would have trouble at anything past about 400 meters in range." This girl might be an essential asset later on with that kind of information lock up in her head. With the question and answer section done, she continued reading the manifest. "Students, Commander: Rosemary Fancourt. Gunner: Lisa Salt. Loader: Abigail Stuart. Driver: Megan Hosteen. Radio Operator: Alyssa Yoshimoto. Good luck." She furrowed her brow. "Those names seem really anglicized, don't you think?"

"Well, that last one doesn't." I replied.

"True." Yukari concurred.

"I can't think of anywhere where anything like Sensha-do is practiced and people would have such European sounding names." Commented Hana, cradling her chin with her hand.

"Well maybe they're coming here because they want to be a part of Sensha-do and they can't where they are now?" A very compelling argument from Yukari, and so far the only one that really explained anything about this. Except for the fact they had a_ Pershing_, so they had the materials and expertise to participate in Panzerkraft, but decided to come here to engage in it. Strange. We had reached the entrance to the school building, I opening the door.

"I hope they know Japanese, or else this might be more of a hindrance than a advantage." Hana pointed out, quietly as she passed through the door's threshold.

"I don't think someone would be stupid enough to send an entire panzer and panzer crew without at least them knowing the language, right?" Yukari laughed, still a lot of excitement in her voice, but there seemed to be considerably less confidence.

"Probably not." I replied, confident that our friends, wherever they may be, would have had at least a little common sense. Yukari smiled at me. She highly valued my opinion, especially when it came to Sensha-do. We were headed towards the general direction of the Sensha-do shed, the air warm, yet also cool thanks to the sea breeze as the Academy ship steamed along under a blue sky and warm sun.


	3. Chapter 2: Bladud

**Viewpoint Sierra, 9:42 Local**

I awoke as another fit of turbulence rocked the cargo plane we had been riding in. It was common to be transported across vast distances in a plane, but this felt strange, being in this massive craft and being completely alone. Well, almost alone, for there was Salt sleeping across a pair of seats opposite from mine, and snoring_, loudly_, Captain, who was copying something from a textbook into a notebook was farther forward, and Adley, who was playing with some kind of electronic game a seat ahead of me, which once in awhile emitted a beep or two. Mentioning Captain, he had seemed a disheartened when we finally left Crowbank. Captain was half Navajo and was a quiet type, although he did have his moments of emotion and was transferred to our crew after getting in a fight after a idiot first year student threw a racial slur at him and he responded. Violently. And then again, the title of 'quiet' doesn't really do him service. He was quiet because he would rather listen to us bark at each other then to himself talk, something I wish Salt would learn, and only did what was asked of him, nothing more, nothing less. Salt was basically the exact opposite, for he, one, never kept his mouth shut unless he had been explicitly ordered to, and two, always tried to showboat his skills as a gunner to whoever would listen, which combined to form a extremely infuriating personality which had gotten himself put on the M3 after he back talked McClay one to many times while being the gunner on his Pershing. But he was almost indispensable as a marksman, and could reliably hit a target at about a 300 yards, which was better than the majority of the gunners on our team. And Adley, poor little Adley. Adley was the runt of the team, he was the only one of our crew that had continuous problems completing our monthly physicals, and regular brought down the wrath of the older students upon himself, not to mention he was the only first year student in the entire program, which would explain his scuffle with McClay. Also, Adley had a bad habit of attempting to modify our radio equipment and rather than making it better, he usually made it much worse, sometimes forcing the maintenance crew (who were just auto shop students who wanted extra credit, like I had once been) to remove and replace the old radio with a new one. I stretched my legs, yawned and then stretched my arms over the back of my seat. I uncreased my dress uniform, which McClay had required us to wear while traveling, no matter how long or short the journey. The proper Crowbank School Tankary team's field dress (which was kind of ironic since we didn't wear it in 'the field') included a set of leather boots, cavalry style khaki jodhpurs and a olive green long sleeve collared shirt with a pleather Sam Browne belt. But the biggest insult, by far, was the fact we had to wear a neckerchief. A neckerchief. It made us look, instead of like tankers, like paramilitary boys scouts. The article was made mainly green cloth, with yellow trimming and a circular patch on the center of its back with our school's motto (Courage, Pride, Honor, Sacrifice) in yellow, encircling the image of a crow in flight on a sky blue background and was held in place by anything you wished to use. I personally either held it with the little metal slide we used on parade or didn't wear it at all.

"Does anybody know how long it's gonna be?" Salt asked in a slurred voice from across the aisle, raising his head and stirring from his slumber.

"Probably only a few more hours." I replied, sighing. Salt groaned, yawned and return to his head down position. Adley popped his head over his seat to face me, smiling,

"I wouldn't be surprised if he could sleep through a plane crash." he said playfully.

"I really wouldn't be surprised, tell the truth." I replied, looking out the window beside me. I had found the layout of the plane interesting, for it had been built as a freight carrier, however, it had later in its career been converted to carry a limited number of passengers in a compartment behind the cockpit where the front of the cargo bay would usually be. It was also separated from the cargo by an insulated wall, and pressurized like the cockpit, making it actually quite comfortable, except for the jolts of turbulence that rocked the aircraft every so often. Below us, the dark ocean stretched out to infinity, and a bright, cheerful sun was still low in the morning sky. We had left the airstrip at dusk and had made a short stopover in the middle of the night at someplace that was intensely warm for it being something like two in the morning, to refuel and exchange crews, and were suppose to be within a few hundred miles of our destination by now.

**-Local 16:00-**

Without much fanfare, a young woman with a orangish-blonde hair and a quiet voice came from the cockpit, introduced us as our copilot and asked us for our attention.  
"I am to alert you that you should report to your vehicle, we're about ten minutes out from our destination, and that all of your equipment should have been checked and strapped down to your vehicle before you're dropped."

"_Dropped?!_" Adley cried out, confused. The outburst spooked Salt, waking him and attracted Captain's attention. Adley had missed the briefing before we went airborne to find a vending machine, and had ended up wandering around the airport for almost a hour and once he found a machine, managed to break it in less than a minute.

"It was part of your briefing that due to a lack of a accessible runway, you are to be dropped from an altitude of about two thousand feet inside your vehicle with all of your supplies strapped onboard." The copilot began, confused and with a slight tinge of annoyance in her voice. "You did pay attention during the briefing, correct?" She asked. Adley started to babble some excuse that was less than convincing. However, not intending to miss the target, I immediately got up and started towards the cargo bay, accepting my fate to be thrown out the back of a flying box in a metal brick, while motioning for the rest of the crew to follow. I heard Adley protesting, however, he still followed. When I reached the door separating the two chambers I found it was locked, however, the copilot was within seconds upon the door with a key and unlocked it, with Captain carrying his books in the crook of his arm and Adley in tow behind her and Salt behind them just rising from his seats. She then proceeded to open the heavy metal exit, allowing a chilly blast of wind to fill the cabin, forcing us to quake from the unexpected cooling and the sound of the wind and the engines, which had existed as a low, constant din but had now increased significantly.

"We'll open the doors when we get within a few miles of the target, I hope you had a nice trip!" The copilot said, almost inaudible over the wind.

"Thanks for the ride!" I replied before pushing past her into the cargo bay, which contained very little with the exception of our tank. I double checked that the bags and parachute that the ground crew had tied to the back of the tank, which now that I thought about it, might impede the M3's turret from traversing a full circle around, were secured in their places and began to mount our positions, although I had to help Salt up onto the turret due to his diminished motor capabilities. I dropped myself into the interior of the Stuart and found my seat, followed by Salt doing the same. A moment or two later, we heard a low rumble and the sounds of the wind and the engines intensify even more.

"They opened the hatch." Captain said, in his characteristic low monotone, peering through his viewport. I peered through the commander's periscope and could only see a mixture of blue-white.

"Yep." I replied, my voice breaking slightly, a sign of my slight terror of being dropped out of a plane onto the unknown. Suddenly there was a sense of slight acceleration as the deck the tank was strapped onto, which were usually used to launch supplies or other 'less squishy' items out of an aircraft, was rolled out of the hatch and into air. All we felt was a little lurch and then nothing. Freefall. It was only a few seconds long, but it felt like hours, just floating, weightless, small objects carelessly bouncing about the interior of the tank, as if we were in space, with the only indications of speed being the whistle of the wind. Then the drogue chute opened, shattering the sense of serenity we had, making the tank shudder from the deceleration, and then the main chute opened. When the actual parachute opened, it felt as if I had been hit by a car from above, a horrible, crushing feeling, causing me to grunt in pain along with almost knocking the wind out off me and nearly falling from my seat. The sensation of heaviness disappeared almost immediately though, and we began our slow descent in relative peace, the roar of the cargo plane's engines still audible, although quickly receding. It was a minute or two before we hit the ground, in a similar manner to a brick, with a loud thud.


	4. Chapter 3: Steel Bird

**Viewpoint Papa, Local 16:01**

It was early afternoon, an hour or so after the end of our regular classes, and our practice had been scheduled to start a while ago, but everyone was sluggish today, alarming since our very first real match was only three days away. It was more of a maintenance day, just simple things that were crucial to victory, stuff like changing out engine oil, cleaning the gun barrels, or switching out possibly faulty parts on our panzers. Mentioning parts, we had a distinct lack of extras, since we had used a lot of our original supply to repair our panzers after our mock battle. Even Rabbit Team, who hadn't received a single direct hits during the battle, had managed to overheat its engine while wallowing in some mud, and fused a couple of cylinders into the engine block incapacitating them. Which forced the entire engine to be removed and almost completely replaced, parts wise, giving the automotive club's girls a real headache. Although they didn't really seem to mind at all the amount of work we forced upon them. It also seemed that everyone was pretty confident regarding our upcoming match, which should be helped further by the news we would be receiving a new panzer. Anzu had late yesterday afternoon after practice pulled me aside and insisted she tell everyone the news, I guess she felt she had created this great opportunity singlehandedly. Even though as I understood it, the new panzer and crew had been sent to us out of the blue, from a school we had never heard of. And that's not to mention that we might not even have the equipment to repair a panzer of that specifications should it be damaged or knocked out. And it would be very interesting to see how they would get a panzer of that weight here, but I suppose that would be their task and not ours. Most of our panzers were in battle condition, except for Duck Team was having one of its forward tread sprockets repaired, how they managed to damage them, I don't really want to know, but other then that we were all ready for the match in two days time. Anzu suddenly called everyone from their panzers, which we did with haste, and fell into our normal order. She was, as usual, flanked by Yuzu and Momo. She waited for a moment before starting

"Afternoon everyone!" Another pause for us to respond with a greeting. "As you should all know, we're to have a elimination battle with St. Gloriana in two days time. However, you may not know that the odds are now-" A sly look at me was shot, while a smile slowly crept cross Anzu's face. "Leaning in our favor." It seemed that she was trying to be cryptic, which, from my experience was the_ last thing_ a commander should be. A hand shot up, Takako's I think, although I suppose she preferred the name Caesar.

"Didn't you say yesterday at the briefing they had five tanks? Did one become unusable?" Anzu attempted to answer, however she was cut off by someone else speaking.

"I don't think St. Gloriana would have a problem with not having enough panzers, they have quite a big reserve of them if I'm not mistaken." Anzu made an effort to regain the attention of the conversation, but to no avail. A second disembodied voice piped up.

"They might only feel like fielding four, you never know!"

"They aren't_ that_ stupid!" A additional voice snipped in. I saw that this was degrading into rabble quickly, with the discussion quickly changing from what it was intended to be, and it looked like either Anzu or Momo was going to blow a a fuse if everyone didn't quiet down. It seemed that Yuzu also notice the oncoming hellfire and scooted farther from Anzu's side. Momo snapped first.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Silence was almost immediately reinstated. Momo looked quite pleased with herself. Anzu acknowledged her before continuing.

"Thank you, now, what I specifically meant by that is that their lineup will not be changing, but ours will." She paused again, allowing what she said to soak in. Someone spoke out, again.

"Somebody found a new panzer?"

"NO!" Momo yelled while stomping her foot, still steaming. Anzu continued.

"If you would allow me to explain, someone has sent us a panzer." She looked so pleased with this recent development. "A foreign school has kindly donated to us a new panzer. It should arrive soon. That is all. Dismissed!" After the end of this short show, everyone returned to what they had been doing before. But, as we returned to our panzers, I heard many questions being asked about Anzu's little announcement, and I suspect she could have been more precise, but choose not to divulge any more information. Why, I have no idea. It seemed as if there was two groups regarding this news, those who were ecstatic about this development, and those who were more skeptical about the introduction of a new team. But, only minutes later, a low, almost inaudible roar was heard. I rushed outside, almost tripping on some misplaced equipment, along with a half-dozen other girls, searching for the producer of the sound. Eyes were everywhere.

"Found it!" Someone called out, hand pointed towards the sky. I shielded my vision from the sun, still quite high in the sky and began to search. I found a small gray smear in the shape of a plane, high above us, and watched as a smaller brown speck fell from it. The speck fell for a moment, growing larger as it did, before what looked like a parachute opened, slowing its descent to almost a stop, and began to drift down like a feather. It was very low now, but I could barely make out any real details, but it looked as if the cargo was a panzer, maybe in standard olive green? It disappeared behind some buildings farther forward on the ship, preventing any further observation. It seemed Anzu's announcement was almost perfectly timed. Whether that was purposeful or accidental was still debatable. I decided we should probably go find the panzer, if that's what it was.

"Mount up! Mount up everybody!" I yelled, since we would arrive at the landing sight of, what I assumed to be our newest panzer, faster on treads then on foot. I followed Yukari and Hana up the front of our Panzer IV and was followed by Saori, while Mako had not left her position through the announcements, but had only now seemed awake. Everyone was hurrying onto their respective panzers, however, Noriko shouted at me just before I dropped into the commander's hatch.

"What are we suppose to do then?!" She and the the rest of Duck Team was idly standing beside their layed up Type 89, which still had one of its tracks unhitched and a forward sprocket off while our other panzers started to rumble into life.

"Try getting fixed as fast as possible and meet us there!" I replied, positioning myself to drop into the interior of our panzer.

"So just get it on and go?!" She asked

"Sure!" I responded, and quickly Noriko ordered her Team to feverishly replace the sprocket. I then dropped into the cozy interior of our panzer. "Mako could you-"

"Already on it." Mako replied while the engine turned over, rumbling deep inside the panzer, idling before jerking forward and we left the cooler air of the Sensha-do shed for the outside, with the sun streaming down onto us. We formed a column of sorts while navigating our way onto the street, before spreading into a combat-esque formation with Turtle Team at the spearpoint, then Rabbit Team taking over the position that Duck Team would have been in abreast of us and Hippo Team pulling rearguard duty. I was servaying our surrounding for any signs for the landing location.

"Hey Miho!" Saori yelled from her position as our radioman, slightly startling me.

"Yes?" I replied.

"You think these are the new girls Anzu was talking about?" She asked inquisitively turned around and leaning out of her seat so she could see me better, she seemed thrilled as well about this development.

"Who else would it be!" Yukari laughed while righting some shells that had fell sideways in their rack. She had been like for the last two days, since we first received the news of this sixth panzer being given to us, although I guess it was a very good reason to be excited. In fact, I was quite delighted by this event too, for the advantage of a Pershing would make all of our matches substantially easier, and might give a spirited chance at winning the impending national championship. And all thanks to some anonymous friends.


	5. Chapter 4: Welcoming Committee

**Viewpoint Sierra, 16:07 Local**

As our tank finally touched down hard, with a thud, I quickly opened my commander's hatch, allowing the smell of fresh, sea air into the interior, and observed our surrounding. We had landed, although at an angle, almost perfectly on a road, while around us there were short, compressed apartments and other buildings, with a sleek modern style unlike the dusty, ancient buildings of home. While all around us people were going along on their daily business, a few glancing at our tank as they past.

"This is a nice little coastal town." I said, mostly to myself. The chute was stirring in the slight breeze that was blowing by, lifting it off the ground and obstructing the view ahead of us. I asked inside of anyone had a knife of any sorts. Captain shuffled around in his seat for a moment and then produced a small pocketknife. I reached down and took it, I thanked him and then lifted myself out and onto the cold steel of the tank. As I sat there, I heard, very faintly over the din of the crowd, the sound of a engine starting up, and then another, and another. Such a sound was somewhat disconcerting, but I ignored it, and blamed it on the aircraft, which was still visible above, although only a speck, for I needed to disconnect the parachute before it became tangled with anything or caused trouble. I opened the knife and started to go to work on cutting the dozen or so straps that held the parachute to the tank and the tank to the platform along its sides while balancing on top of our bags, the endeavor forced me to keep my head down, unable to pay attention to my surroundings. I kinda wished the knife was serrated too, it was have great difficulty digging itself onto the cloth of the straps. After I finished about half the ropes, I looked up to find the previously lively streets were now almost empty, and a young child, likely around the age of ten, standing and watching with a expression of interest in my actions. Her eyes darted to the knife and she took a step away. I smiled, hoping that would calm her, gave her a little, three fingered salute, to which she copied to me, and continued to give me an expression of intrigue, I then continued to work on the rope. I was almost done when I looked up again, to find the child being tugged away by her parent, much to the child's active chagrin, her expression one of her wishing to be helped in her predicament. I decided to not get too involved and give her another little salute, to which she reciprocated with the hand which was not being hauled off. It also seemed that the engine noise had grown louder, but when I looked up, there was no airplane above, but I decided, again, to ignore the sound. As I finished the last of the ropes, the parachute came free of the tank, all of the straps snapping past me, and the chute swirling in the air like a giant jellyfish away from the tank and on down the street. As it passed a intersection a few hundred yards from us, a tank swung out of the side street on the left, stopped and traversed towards the billowing main chute. But before it faced completely away from us, it stopped, paused, and begun rotating again, this time towards us. I tried to make out what type of vehicle it was, but the distance was too great for my eyes. I continued to kneel upon one of the gunny sacks strapped to the back of the Stuart for a moment before rising, and sliding onto the turret.  
"We're free of the chute, however, we may have some company. Salt, can you check what make and model it is?" I called, while causally loading the M3's main cannon almost out of habit. Salt, who was still wasn't wide awake, replied through an oncoming yawn.

"Looks like a Panzer 38. Weapons free?"

"Not yet." I stated somewhat caught off guard by his question, while struggling to slam the gun's breech closed. "Rules of engagement are don't fire unless I say so with what I say so. You got it?"

"Yessir!" Replied Adley with great vigor. I had almost forgot that he was in control of a ball-mounted machine gun. Who thought it was smart to give somebody who can't work a radio right a machine gun?

"Whatever." Salt sounded dejected,

"Sad about not getting to kill anything?" I laughed, toying with him, which probably not the best idea.

"Ah hell to you!" he retorted. Without removing his vision from the eyepiece, he kicked me with his booted foot, a little harder then I would have exactly liked, especially since I was trying to hand Captain his very sharp knife. Captain took the knife and thanked me, before placing it in one of his hip pocket. Salt kicked me again, now trying to attract my attention.

"Hey, hey, I got some movement downrange!" Salt announced. I found the eyepiece, and began examining through my periscope the tank I had seen outside. It was a Panzer 38(t) alright, and unusual one at that. It was neon yellow, making it almost painful to look at with the sun reflecting off of it, with something that appeared like a insignia on the side of its turret, although the details of it were still masked by distance. It had traversed itself so it was now facing directly at us, as we were to it from a distance of about three hundred yards. We sat there for a moment, just at a stand-off. Then I remembered something.

"Captain, turn the engine over." I asked, looking from the periscope down to Captain into the dark cabin. It was common sense to check to see whether our engine was still functional after we sustained such an impact, plus, why shouldn't we? Then again, I guess the whole load the cannon first, ask questions later mentality wasn't exactly the best way to handle this situation. Regardless, Captain pressed the ignition, the M3's radial aircraft engine revving a moment before it died. "Captain." I repeated, sounding irritated.

"I'm trying" Captain growled, turning the engine over again. It revved for a moment before there was a crack like a gunshot as the engine backfired, hard and loud, the engine coughing a couple of times before turning over, and then went into a low idle. Suddenly there was a second loud crack and then a sound like nails on a chalkboard that lasted for only a split-second, then a quiet thud, of something hitting the ground off to the side of us. The tank was completely quiet, save for the rattle of the engine. Adley was the first to speak.

"Did they just-"

"Yep." I cut him off before he could finish. They had fired, and the shot had ricocheted off of us. I could hear the sounds of the turret rotating as Salt refined his aim on the opposing tank.

"Salt. Rules of engagement." I said, irritated. Silence. "Salt. **Salt.**"

"Cool yourself. I'm not gonna fire, I'm only gonna aim." He said, his face still glued to the gunsight. I felt uneasy about Salt training a gun at a unknown tank, especially since said gun was loaded. Although they had fired they didn't make any attempt to move, the Panzer just sitting at range and I hoped it was just an accident they fired at us. I hoped. Another few seconds passed.

"Captain, straighten out and then ahead slow." I commanded, not moving from the periscope, hoping to force their hand, and see whether that round had been launched in anger, watching for the telltale muzzle flash of another. It didn't take long for one to appear, as Captain traversed us slightly, paused, and then began forward at a walking pace.

This time I felt a surge of adrenaline with the whizzing of the shot as it went by, followed by an explosion behind us as the Panzer's shell missed.

"Captain, full speed ahead!" I yelled, eyes still glued to the jostling eyepiece. Captain responded immediately, a swell of engine noise that forced me to yell to be heard was accompanied by the tank lurched forward with acceleration. "Salt?!" I yelled again.

"Yessir!" He responded.

"Track 'em, but don't fire until I give the order! Same with you Adley!"

"Yessir!" They replied in unison. Salt took complete command of the Stuart's turret, turning it slightly so it was lined up with the Panzer. We were only a about about two hundred yards distant now, and the Panzer had started reversing slowly, but its gun was still training in on us. I continued to wait, planning to unleash hell once we had sufficiently closed the gap with machine guns blazing, since our cannon shells would likely ricochet off the front if it was reasonably armored, and although the machine guns wouldn't cause much if any damage, but would give the occupants an awful scare and allow us to get alongside them or behind them, where our 37 millimeter shell would go through them like butter. Hundred and fifty yards out. I opened the commander's hatch and stood up into it, the sounds of the tank intensified even further, compounded by the wind whipping past me.

"Captain, pull up and stop beside them. Rest of you are MG's free!" I yelled into the interior. Without a moment to spare, the two machine guns thundered into life, covering the Panzer 38 in flickers of light from ricocheting bullets, while a tinkle was heard below as the casings were ejected from the guns and bounced about. Although we were beyond the range where richoties could be dangerous, I could still hear as rounds buzzed past me on their return journey. The Panzer came to an abrupt halt, the crew surely in total disarray. Perfect. "Cease fire! **Cease fire!**" I yelled into the cabin below, silencing the machine guns as quickly as they had begun and finishing the lightshow on the front of the still unanimated Panzer 38. We glided up to the left side of it, the engine quieting down to a loud purr and coming to almost a full stop, Salt beginning to traverse the turret towards the Panzer as I had instructed, hoping to blow right through the side of their turret. But, before we could fully train onto their side, I instinctively began scanning our surroundings. I lucky that I did, for down the street that the 38 (t) had came from, three, count 'em, three tanks were approaching, although in the heat of action I couldn't really identify them, save for the M3 Lee, due to its unique profile. All three of these tanks had halted the moment they saw us, and were likely lining up a shot at us at that moment. I howled down into the interior, not a moment to lose. "**Captain, step on it!**" Instantly, the Stuart launched ahead, shooting pass the sideroad and the Panzer, before halting again. As we did, I heard two horrendous concussions, one right after the other, causing me to spin about to find the source as the Stuart came to a stop again. The Panzer 38(t) had been hit, and was now encompassed by a massive cloud of dust and smoke. I almost lost my balance when the Stuart started once more, but slower this time, and I, ignoring the incapacitated Panzer 38, kept my head on a swivel looking for any new threats. The Stuart had gathered a considerable amount of steam and distance from the crippled Panzer 38 before I noticed one of the tanks, which I now realized was a German STuG III, had rounded the corner and was now probably lining up a shot on us with that nasty gun it had. I had no intentions of staying around long enough for them to get a shot in. I looked ahead of us and found that we were approaching another intersection. I decided that we would turn right, removing us from the STuG's line of fire and hoping to outflank the all three of these vehicles from behind._ Tactical genius_. I dropped back down into the turret, closing the hatch with me and shouted "Captain, I want a hard turn to the right on my mark!" He turned from his view slit and gave me a look that implied disbelief, however it quickly disappeared and he turned back around. I guess that the fact that Captain gave me such a look should have been a red flag about the maneuver I had asked him to perform, but I, under the influence of adrenaline, was blind to any risks regarding sharp turns. Turns that could be extremely dangerous for top-heavy vehicles with narrow bases moving quickly. A vehicle like a top-heavy M3 Stuart at speed. "**Mark**!" I shouted, bracing myself against the incoming turn. I heard the right tread stop, causing the tank to swing around sideways and a terrible screech as the tank slide sideways from its speed, which was expected, and began to tip over, which was not. This momentum continued, forcing the tank farther over and after what seemed like an eternity, till the tank keeled over onto its side. There was a horrible jarring as the tank slammed onto its side, still moving at a decent clip. There was a terrible screeching as the tank skidded across the ground on its side, before stopping in a cloud of dust. I felt completely disoriented, my ears ringing like church bells, while I rested on the cool steel, which was still fidgeting from the motion of the engine.

"Oliver, you good?" I heard Salt inquire, jabbing my leg with his booted foot. I replied with a quiet yes and felt a painful stinging sensation on my forehead and something hot running along the length of my right brow as I had bumped my head against something before coming to rest on the turret's side, and had got a bad scrape or something another, but I had bigger things to worry about.

"I'm good. Adley, are you ok?" I grumbled, pulling myself off the steel, and half falling, half sitting on the rear of the turret.

"Nothing broken." He replied, coughing from the dust that swirled about the cabin.

"Captain?" I spoke more assertively this time.

"Same." He acknowledged, his demeanor as calm as ever "But I fear our tank may not be in such a fine condition." At this his voice pitched up slightly, as if in amusement as he terminated the engine's heavy, loud purring, the tank finally coming to rest.

"Well, it's on its side for starters." Salt laughed, whipping his neckerchief off his neck, shoving it into one of his hip pockets and righting himself so he stood on the turret's wall, forcing me to share a very limited space with him and the expelled machine gun casings scattered all around. And we still had a live round in the breach of our main cannon to boot. His face suddenly turned serious "Not to alarm you or anything, but you've got a pretty gnarly gash on your face." Salt pointed out, tapping his forehead to show the location of my laceration, _as if I would have trouble finding it_. The wound wasn't too bad and the blood only made it about as far as my temple before stopping, it didn't even qualify as anything more than a really bad paper cut.

"It's nothing too major, anyway, everyone, dismount!"

"Don't have to tell me twice." Grumbled Adley as he opened the driver's hatch. I then proceeded to push open the sideways commander's hatch and crawl head first through it.


	6. Chapter 5: First Contact

**Viewpoint Papa, 16:07 Local**

Our formation began its steady march down the streets of the Academy's ship, attempting to cause as little disturbance as possible, which when in twenty to thirty tons of steel is kind of difficult to do. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and windy, although that's almost expected on a ship under sail, people were out and about, a few stopping to wave as we rumbled past them. After a few twists and turns, we were still chugging around the predicted area that who we assumed to be our newest panzer had landed in, but alas, there was nothing to be found so far, maybe it had been smaller than we first thought and therefore had touched down closer to the school? There was a crackle over the radio.

"I thought you said it would be here!" I was quite sure that the voice was Azusa, commander of Rabbit Team, our M3 Lee.

"Its gotta be around here somewhere. Head right!" I replied. At the next intersection, our entire formation swung to the right, onto another wide avenue, a duplicate of the last. It would probably be helpful if the person who directing the search had prior knowledge of the layout of the ship, which was clearly not myself. I had been at Ooarai for a good while now, however, the size of the school's vessel made it impossible to know it all so quickly, much to my loss. As our formation collected itself after its turn, it really did seemed as if the panzer had magically disappeared. We had already checked the areas nearby that seemed like decent places for a landing, both of the green belts in this area of the ship, however, we couldn't find the panzer. But it must be in this vicinity, unless it had completely missed the entire ship, which would actually be quite difficult to accomplish, and landed in the sea below or on the roof of one of the surrounding buildings, which would be very unfortunate for both the residents and our new arrivals. I was beginning to panic slightly, and was considering for a moment how we could find this panzer any faster, seeing as if they had managed to end up in the drink or inside of someone's shop or home, it would be an unfortunate way for their time at Ooarai to begin. I decided, that in the light that they may be in danger, that we could cover more ground if we spread out about the ship.

"We'll be able to find them faster if we fan out!" I commanded.

"Turtle Team will head right." Anzu affirmed almost immediately, their panzer suddenly cutting across us and onto another broad street.

"We'll go on ahead!" Azusa volunteered, Rabbit Team surging ahead from our decaying formation.

"Hippo Team will follow Anglerfish." I heard Riko, or Erwin, reply, their STuG slowing down slightly to slid in behind us. I was unsure if she had fully understood the entire 'split up' activity, however, I trusted her competence, especially since she had almost surely been here longer then me, and therefore know more about the ship then I. I found what looked like a good candidate of a street to start our search, albeit somewhat narrow, but in the case they had landed on a rooftop, it was critical to check every nook and every side street. I ordered Mako to halt, matching the road's entrance.

"Turning left!" I called, watching as Hippo Team also slowed to a halt behind us. Then I asked Mako begin down the street somewhat slowly, and watched as Hippo Team pulled up to the entrance to the street, traversed in place to match up with us, and followed. The radio was silent for a short while while we fanned out farther in our respective directions.

"Didya see that?!" Anzu yelled across the radio, concluding the period of silence, her voice filled with excitement.

"See what? Oryou halt!" Erwin ordered, Hippo Team jostling to a halt behind us.

"Mako, stop." I echoed Erwin's instruction. Mako followed suit without qualm, the panzer lurched to a halt.

"Oryou, traverse left!" Erwin responded militaristically, Hippo Team beginning to rotate around on the narrow street, before its muzzle break tapped against the wall, stopping any further twisting. They paused for a moment, before revolving back to how they had been when they stopped. I suspect that if the STuG couldn't turn all the way about, neither could we. Erwin turned out of her hatch and as it looked, was directly instructing Oryou to reverse backwards up the street, guiding her as they went.

"Mako, reverse please!" I requested, and she again, complied. The panzer began slowly backwards and Hana rotated the turret around to match, thankfully, the street was wide enough for the gun to swivel around without crashing into anyone's wall, and although I was more than willing to help her, it seemed that Mako was more than capable of steering the panzer backwards by, I guess, judging her distance from the sides. She showed that she was the top of her class well. And every time I was about to make a comment about our distance from the walls, she would correct it before I could speak. Finally Hippo Team escaped the confines of this small passage and turn right, back the direction we had came from.

"Was that a parachute?" Yuzu asked, her voice carried to the radio set in the Panzer 38 (t) of Turtle Team, able to be heard by the entire team, maybe even Duck Team all the way back at the sensha-do shed.

"What was what?" I heard Azusa ask. We were still in the dark as to the nature of what was happening to them, and even worse, if something did happen to them, they were completely without support. Hippo Team was already pursuing after Turtle Team, and their mysterious contact, with us closely behind. As we caught up to Hippo Team, forming up on their left, Hana rotated our turret so it was facing the correct direction once more, and Rabbit Team came roaring up from behind, and joined us from its own search. We formed a primitive formation, with Hippo Team in the center and us and Rabbit Team flanking them. Anzu spoke now.

"Turtle Team will advance and check it out, I guess." We had just came to the turn that Turtle Team had taken before, their silhouette far off, likely about seven hundred meters away from us. That little Panzer 38(t) could move fast when it wanted to. I suppose I should have told them to wait for us to get to their position, however, since we could now see them and this wasn't exactly a combat situation, I allowed it to slide. Which might have not been the best decision.

"Yuzu, stop and rotate us right." Anzu ordered, the panzer responded promptly by traversing right, giving us its entire profile, much more defined now as we had closed to about six hundred meters.

"Well that's definitely a parachute, but where's the- Yuzu turn us around now! **Yuzu!**" Momo yelled. Turtle Team stopped and began to furiously rotate back to the left until it was now facing completely the other way.

"That's not a Pershing, right?" Yuzu inquired about the panzer that was still invisible to the rest of us. There was a momentary pause before she spoke again."If it's not a Pershing, what is it then?"

"Is it the new girls?" I heard Saori blurt, excited.

"I'm not quite sure" Anzu commented. "Seems too small to be a M26." There was another momentary silence, and then a loud bang, as if a shot had been fired. Then the radio channel exploded.

"What was that?!" I heard Azusa cry, sounding very alarmed.

"They fired at us! Didn't they?!" Replied Momo feverishly. "Uhh, return fire!" Momo was going into full on panic mode as the panzer's 3.7 centimeter gun spat. It seemed as if all that training on making rational and clear decisions when under stress had done nothing to help Momo at all.

"It bounced off them!" I heard Yuzu cry out. There was another moment before Anzu called out.

"They're coming towards us now. Fast."

"Uhh.." Momo sounding uneasy. "Yuzu what are you doing?! Back up!" She implored, her voice rife with panic. The gun popped into life again, followed by Yuzu starting to reverse the Panzer 38(t) away from their invisible assailant. Suddenly, a sound like continuous thunder echoed down from Turtle Team's position, while the front of Turtle Team and the ground about them was lit up with small flashes, almost like fireflies. Machine guns. The continuous gunfire stopping them, over the radio, through the symphony of machine gun rounds slamming into them I could hear Momo yelling.

"SHOOT THEM!_ SHOOT THEM!_"

"Load!" I heard Erwin shout, followed by Azusa calling out the same basic thing, all three of our panzers continuing to close with the flashing steel that was Turtle Team.

"Halt!" I called, the formation we had hastily created came sharply to a stop about a hundred, hundred fifty meters from Turtle Team, prepared to fire at their attacker should the opportunity present itself. Yukari turned to me and made eye contact with me, her expression one of asking permission, I nodded, understanding what she had nonverbally asked of me, and without a moment to spare, she expertly loaded a shell into the breach of our main cannon. The light show ended and moments later a strange panzer appeared, a small, olive green blur, which had a small figure sticking out of it, who due to the distance and speed, I couldn't really make out any defining features. Just as this new panzer was about to stop I heard Erwin bark.

"FIRE!" Both Hippo and Rabbit Teams fired, almost simultaneously. The STuG III's gun roared, nudging the entire panzer back with its massive recoil, and I heard a metallic clang, the sign that the shell hit something with it's powerful punch. The Lee's shot went slightly low, smashing into the ground short, kicking up a massive cloud of licking flames, smoke and dust, obscuring both Turtle Team and the other panzer. The cloud stirred for a moment, before being moved by a gust of wind, showing that the other panzer had magically disappeared and that Hippo Team's shell had only hit Turtle Team, giving the panzer a nasty bruise, followed by the small flag signaling that the panzer had been officially knocked out snapping out and finding that Turtle Team weren't very happy about being taken out by our own team, no less. Hippo Team, without haste, zoomed off after the new panzer, still a threat and we and Rabbit Team followed, while behind us, Duck Team finally arrived, announced by Noriko, enthusiastic as ever.

"We're here! What we miss!"

"Oh nothing just shooting each other instead of the _ENEMY_!" Momo snapped at her.

"Enemy?" Noriko asked, confused. I decided to butt in before the conversation became more heated than it already was.

"Turtle Team shot at our newest panzer, or at least I think that's who it was, and ended up shot by Hippo Team by accident."

"Oh." Replied Noriko sounding genuinely surprised at these new developments, and I could still hear Momo grumbling over the radio. Hippo Team had reach the corner and was beginning to traverse after the other panzer and with us on their heels. There was a sudden whoosh from the direction of Turtle Team.

"Oh COME ON!" I heard Momo cry, a low crackling filling the background, and as I looked over, I could see that the entire engine compartment of the Panzer 38(t) was engulfed in flames, which was surprising to say the least.

"Are you alright?!" A bleated, intensely worried about their safety.

"We're good here. Yuzu, where's the fire extinguisher!" Anzu called out, her voice quite calm compared to Momo, who still could be heard grumbling in the background. As we reached the corner, Hana traversing the turret to sight the other panzer which had escaped our fire. I saw the other panzer driving away from us down the road, before turning hard right, hold its pose for a moment, one track on the ground and one off, then flip on its side with a crash, kicking up dust and sparks as it did. As it did I heard Hana gasp and a silence of sort, which would make sense, for a panzer flipping over was quite rare sight to behold at anytime and not a very fun experience either I expect.

"That couldn't have felt good!" Erwin laughed, breaking the temporary silence.

"We and Rabbit Team will check if they're ok, while Duck Team?" I asked, hoping no one had been injured in the crash. Modern panzers may be for all intensive purposes impervious to tank rounds, but people still could get hurt in Sensha-do, especially doing things like that.

"Yes?" I heard Noriko reply, their Type 89 pulling up behind us, while Rabbit Team had curved round us onto the road and was driving down towards the other panzer with Hippo Team trailing them, driving somewhat slowly, it seemed that they were having a chatter on the proper military analogy for what had just occurred or something in that vicinity, likely unaware that they had managed to set ablaze one of our own panzers.

"You hook up Turtle Team and get ready to tow them back home, alright?"

"Ok!" She replied with enthusiasm as they swerved around and up to the back of Turtle Team and almost running into them. We were already almost to the other panzer which seemed to have skidded on its side quite a bit, for green paint chips was scattered around the street, and were further being scattered around by the wind. It was definitely a light tank, too small to be anything else and almost definitely not the M26 Pershing we had been promised, which was grounds to be furious, since we had, by extension, lost one of our very valuable panzers days before our first real game because of them. But, I was more interested in see whether they were alright, since they had somehow managed to flip a panzer on its side, which must have been quite a rattling blow to such a small panzer and it was just the proper thing to do. We rolled up quite close beside them and I opened the commander's hatch.


	7. Chapter 6: Introduction

**Viewpoint Sierra, 16:15 Local**

As I emerged from the commander's hatch crawling on my hands and knees, I caught my foot upon the lip of the opening, pulling me backwards and causing me to fall flat on the hard cement in a less than gracious way, before lifting myself off the ground, followed by Salt. Adley was crawling out of the driver's hatch and Captain was still inside waiting for Adley to get a move on. I could hear the loud rumble of our pursuers approaching, unseen, behind our overturn Stuart. A Panzer IV rolled into sight and stopped first, on our left side, and then the Lee on our right. The Panzer IV was painted in regular German gray and had the short 50 millimeter gun, however, the Lee was interestingly decorated, to say the least.

"The hell is that monstrosity?!" I cried, feasting my eyes on a bright pink M3 Lee. It was a terrifying sight. Bright pink at that. The most masculine device in the history of warfare, painted from base to turret in a _very_ feminine color.

"What is wrong with these guys" I heard Salt snort, disgusted, bouncing up from his position on the ground, having wiggled out of the Stuart. And I couldn't agree with him more, they had not only fired on us for basically no reason and now as it would seem, had desecrating the glory of the tank.

"Really?!" squeaked Adley, not regarding the tank, but because he had found that he was caught on something inside, and was furiously trying to undo his belt and free himself. As Salt and me were gaping at the the M3 Lee and Adley was struggling to get himself out, the commander's hatch on the Panzer IV clanked opened and a head shot out. Whoever this guy was, he had to be a strange kid, his hair went down pretty long, which must have made him suffer while being in a hot, and occasionally damp, tank cabin.

"Aye buddy!" I yelled, ready to scold them for firing at us, and also to order them to right our tank, since they had, indirectly, been at fault for toppling it. But before I could continue with my plan, the figure turned. It wasn't a guy at all.

"Hell's blazes." Salt mumbled, surprised as I was while Adley momentarily paused his struggle crawling out of the commander's hatch to also gawk. It was a girl. In a tank. It was unnatural to see a feminine face sharing the same space with an armored vehicle. As she just sat there, the hatches on the sides of the Panzer IV's turret opened, along with the driver's and co driver's hatches and more girls appeared, pausing to observe us, in much the same way we were, and when I looked back towards the commander's cupola of the Panzer, she was gone. The girl whom I was quite sure was their commander, reappeared rounded the back end of the Panzer and approached me, her steps short and ladylike, yet quasi-militaristic. She was considerably shorter than me, probably about five foot two or so, and seemed a little uneasy at my presence, her eyes darted up to my forehead, which was still bleeding. There was a momentary silence. I pressed through stillness, and introduced myself, extending a hand for a strong, customary handshake.

"Oliver Fancourt, Tank Commander, Crowbank Secondary School." I said, straightening my back and puffing out my chest with a inhaled breath, attempting to look as regal as possible. The girl stood there scrutinizing me, then looked at my hand, before bowing and saying something in a foreign tongue which I didn't understand. I stood there, lost on the proper reaction to this, and, after a few moments, noticed I was still awkwardly holding my hand out, retracted it and hastily performed a rudimentary copy of the girl's bow back to her. I could hear Adley, of all people, _snickering_ behind me. After, I gave the girl a smile, which she returned, and then spun on my heel to face my crew. I motioned the three of us who had already escaped the Stuart together and we formed a tight circle against the stern of the tank, our bags still strapped tightly down to the Stuart's steel, although they had been compressed onto each other thanks to gravity.

"Nice job Oliver." chuckled Adley, opening our little meeting.

"Like you could do better." I retorted almost immediately, slightly embarrassed.

"Actually I could, thank you very much!" He replied, with a bit of sassiness in his voice, which coupled with the adrenaline, infuriated me, but, not wishing to escalate the insults any further, and took a calming breath.

"Where are we?" Asked Captain, filling the void made by my inhalation and completely disregarding Adley's and my little exchange, climbing out of the driver's hatch and integrating into our little huddle.

"Somewhere East. That's the way we were heading when I nodded off." Salt butted in, pointing out the obvious, not content with not being part of the conversation.

"Thank you Salt, but it's kind of more important what'd she say?" I said, motioning my thumb up over my shoulder towards the girl behind me.

"I'm pretty sure she just told us her name and stuff." Replied Adley looking quite smug from his seat leaning on the Stuart's sideways turret. "I didn't quite catch it all, but I think it was 'Miho' something or another." I eyed him, confused. "Either that, or she said you taste bad."

"Ok, how'd you know that?" I demanded, confused and still somewhat vexed at Adley for his previous comments.

"What, that you taste bad?!" Laughed Salt.

"Piss off Salt!" I snapped back, not at all in the mood for either Adley's or Salt's shenanigans.

"Don't you know?" Adley asked, beaming with pride, "I'm half Japanese." There was a momentary silence. The prideful look disappeared. "You guys do know I'm Japanese, right?" More silence. I was hoping to sidestep the fact that, though Adley had been part of our crew basically since our team training started, no one really knew any information about him past his name. And I didn't even remember his last name. Thankfully the silence was soon broken by the sound of antagonized yelling coming from behind our M3. Another series of girls appeared, their clothes covered in soot. They halted at the sight of us, one of them seemed very intrigued by my injury, which didn't sting as much as it had before, while the taller one begun by shouting something to the girls whose name, according to Adley at least, was Miho. Then the girl turned, stopped for a moment and then beginning to yell at us. I had no idea what she was saying, but she sounded _pissed off_. I calmly murmured to Adley.

"What she on about?" Obviously mentioning the banshi that was screaming at us, hoping he would at least catch a little of what she was saying.

"Something about..." He stopped for a moment, before seeming to come to an understanding about something, nodding and beginning again. "They're the guys that were in the Panzer 38 and their all riled up because they got dinged." He said, as if he had just solved a mystery. In retrospect, I could have told him that just by looking at them.

"I don't think what happened to them could be constituted at a 'ding', Adley, they sustained a pretty nasty hit, and they don't look too happy about it." I affirmed not sounding too thrilled by his amazing conviction.

"Oh." He replied, and it seemed as if he had finally had passed over his unusual spike in ego, which was satisfying.

"Anyway could you kindly ask them to right our tank?" I requested, still watching as the girl fumed and went over towards the Panzer IV to talk with the crew over there. She seemed to be done screaming, for now at least. Adley replied that he would try, and stepped out of our little circle and immediately seemed to lose a lot of confidence. Once Adley began to speak, what I assumed to be Japanese, the girls all stopped for a moment, looking surprised that any of us knew their language. Then the girl who was apparently their commander or something another, said something to the girls who were now assembled, and almost immediately, they dismounted and began to work, attempting to, at least right our tank. She then approached Adley and told him something, during which I noticed that the two were almost equal in height. The girl snapped round and went walking back to the Panzer IV. Adley seemed somewhat in awe by what had just happened during the conversation, however, Salt was quick to saunter over and rest his arm, thick and muscular, on top of Adley's head to both bring him out of the clouds and also covertly show his dominance, which wasn't exactly necessary with his stature. "So what did ya tell 'em?" Salt asked nonchalantly, looking down at Adley. Adley only glared at Salt, before stepping out from under his arm and then answering his question.

"Well, they said they would, and that they've been expecting us. I don't exactly like the sound of that, do you?" He didn't look at Salt, but instead, at me.

"At least that means we're in the right place." Salt replied.

"So I guess her name is Miho, or something of that nature?" I asked, just trying to find out something concrete about them.

"Don't count on my translation skills." Adley replied, coming and joining me, passing the girls attempting to wind their cable around the turret of our tank. We still weren't even sure of one of their names. "Although I am quite sure that's what it is." He added.

"Well this is just a freaking great start!" I laughed, finally getting around to untying my neckerchief, which had seemed to have tightened its grip around my neck since I last checked. I slipped the metal slide holder into my pocket, and dabbed the neckerchief against my face, using it to soak up whatever blood it could, which was had begun to coagulate where it rested. I then suggested that we get out of their way, as they seemed to be almost ready to right the Stuart, for they had already moved the Lee into position to drag the it upright, and the tow cable had been wrapped around its turret. We watched from the side of the street, along with several of these girls as the Lee's crew revved up their engine, and then lurched forward. The Stuart was dragged along its side for a few yards before it caught on something, and stopped, the Lee along with it. The Lee increased engine power again and began to pull the Stuart upright, slowly. The Stuart finally was righted with a crash, and the Lee lurched to a stop a moment later, and turned off its engine. Then, the girls began to rush off as 'Miho' shouted something, then she approached Adley and told him something, which he nodded to before she walked off.

"What'd she say this time?" Salt asked, sitting down in the shadow of the buildings. Adley replied with a sense of dis-heartedness.

"We're to saddle up and follow them." He sighed. "I think."

"Good!" Salt approved, blowing past Adley and off towards the Stuart at marching pace. He seemed to be in a much improved mood, especially since less than a hour before he was dead asleep in a airplane's seat. By the time the rest of us arrived at the Stuart, Salt was already inside but was soon joined.

"Captain, turn the engine over?" I commanded, although somewhat hesitant, since the last time I uttered that command it didn't end well. The engine tried to turn over, spitting and coughing before turning over without a single issue. I heard Captain sigh, and I could assume that it was just chance that the only time the engine had ever backfired was the worst time it could. "Captain, traverse left." I ordered, while attempting to replace some of the shell that had fallen from their rack when we rolled over. The tank turned, wheeling round the stopped left tread, before halting after we had made almost a full ninety degree turn. Once I finished replacing the mislaid shells, I stuck out of my hatch, and found that a convoy of sorts had formed around us, with the STuG forming the head of our column, the Panzer IV falling in in front of us and the Lee pulling up the rear. But then, a tank I have never seen before rolled up behind the Lee pulling the knocked out Panzer 38(t), which had almost no damage save for scorch marks from an internal fire. I saw that the entire column lurched forward and in return, I relayed that for Captain to also start heading forward, although the formation began much slower than Captain, or I, expected. For he accelerated directly into the back of the Panzer IV, lurching it slightly forward and bringing the Stuart to almost a full stop from the impact. I, not expecting either the acceleration or the collision, lost my footing and fell backwards and onto the floor of the turret basket, Salt cackling like a madman. I immediately rose from the metal floor and stuck my head out of the turret again, and quickly eyeballed the Stuart for damage even though the collision occurred at very low speeds, but while checking the stern of the Panzer IV, caught the eye of the girl who's name we assumed was 'Miho'. We exchanged a glance and a smile. I watched as she dropped down inside the Panzer, and noticed how she, and her teammates, didn't have nearly the problems fitting through the hatches of these vehicles as I did, although I supposed that was somewhat expected. The convoy began once again, still very slow, but at least we were moving. Moving towards whatever this 'consultation' gig might hold for us. If it could even be called consulting.


	8. Chapter 7: New Arrivals

**Viewpoint Papa, 16:16 Local**

As I opened the commander's hatch I heard the crew of this new panzer call at me, and I turned to face them almost involuntarily. At first glance they were strange, one had already escaped the panzer, while two more were almost out of the panzer's hatches. They all had short hair, shorter than anyone in Sensha-do I had seen and seemed built very strangely, very heavily, like panzer one could say. Saori opened her hatch and popped her head and shoulders out.

"Are those boys?" She asked in almost a whisper turning to me with a look of bewilderment on her face to match the confusion in her voice. At that, the rest crew turned out to see for themselves if Saori's comment was true. I returned Saori's look of confusion, for I was as stumped as she was. The whole hair and body figure thing made a whole lot more sense after it was made plain they weren't girls. I quickly dismounted, taking care not to make myself look like a fool, especially since I was still reeling from fact we had been lied to regarding the panzer we had been sent, and now, somehow, managed to get a male crew just to make our day even harder! They were all wearing eccentric uniforms that looked like a slightly childish version of the riding costume of cavalry from long ago, with awkward looking khaki trousers that were cartoonish in shape, bloated out at the thighs, almost comically so, heavy looking boots and shirts the same tint of green as their panzer. And they had the strangest accessories, a scrap of brighter green cloth tied around their necks, and held in place by a small clamp of metal, patches on their sleeves. They looked really quite ridiculous in their garb. As I rounded the end of our panzer, first one that I saw, who I assume was their commander since he stepped forward to meet me, was a bit taller then me with tanned skin, his brown hair cut short enough to see his scalp and dark eyes. He was also quite thin, but he still stood with a sense of regalness and strength, although it was somewhat spoiled by the small trail of blood, which may or may not have been his own, dripping down the side of his face, and was actually a concerning fact to me. I approached him, eyeing him cautiously for any sudden or unexpected moves. I had never seen a boy ever even attempt to enter Sensha-do, might as well actually participate in the sport, and they seemed already trained in the use of panzers, which concerned me. The dark haired boy said something in unfamiliar language, smiling throughout, and extended his right hand towards me, which befuddled me. Such strange customs. I decided to ignore it and introduce myself.

"Miho Nishizumi, Oorarai Girl's Academy." Formally bowing as I did. After, I saw the brown haired boy looked panicked and quickly performed an atrociously bad bow in return, he smiled even though I could see that he wasn't exactly comfortable, since he had obviously been put at a disadvantage, something I suppose he might have not been use to. I returned his smile and he turned around and motioned the parts of his team that had already escaped the sideways panzer together into a tight circle, and they began to talk quietly, as if we could understand them. I decided to make clear I didn't intend to intrude and strolled back to our panzer, and proceeded to lift myself up onto the side of the hull, using the treads to push myself up, and sat down beside Saori, who had left her hatch and seated herself on the upper glacis watching these travelers intently while they discussed amongst themselves.

"Well I wasn't expecting this at all." Yukari laughed, the enthusiasm of before significantly dampened, although not nonexistent, resting on the rim of her hatch and laying her upper body over the top of the turret who was also watching this new team.

"I don't think anyone was." I admitted, still somewhat shocked that anyone would lie so blatantly to us.

"It could have been worse." Mako added in her characteristic low monotone, only her forehead peeking out of the driver's hatch. "We might haven't been given a panzer at all." She did have a point. Yukari shrugged and sighed, I suppose all her motivation for the last few days was based off of that promise for a new panzer, which I suppose we had gotten, however not the panzer we had been expecting. At all. Hana climbed from her seat halfway out of the gunner's hatch, a posture very much similar to Yukari's, so she was standing next to me, slightly towering over me, although I suspect that was not her intention.

"I wonder how Turtle Team is doing." She pondered as she gingerly sat down beside me, looking off past the little panzer towards the tower of smoke that was drifting down from the street.

"THANKS FOR THE HELP!" That would have been Momo, slightly winded, sounding absolutely furious as she, Anzu and Yuzu appeared jogged up to the side of the little overturned panzer with almost perfect timing again. They were covered in soot from head to toe. Anzu and Yuzu noticed our new friends, who had interrupted their conversation for them. Momo however, was completely oblivious of their existence, for she was looking at me, fire in her eyes. "WHO SHOT US?!" She commanded, her voice loud and hot with anger, regardless of the shortness of breath. I was quite sure that it had been Hippo Team, who had halted just past Rabbit Team and almost forming a semicircle around the overturned panzer moments before Turtle Team had got there. Instead of saying anything to Momo, I only shrugged. "Idiots." She grumbled loudly throwing up her arms over her head. Then she turned and saw the crew of the overturned panzer. There was a momentary pause of just complete silence as she stood there, dumbfounded. Yuzu, who had been attempting to catch her breath was about to tap her on the shoulder. Then Momo sucked in a large breath and absolutely lost it. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" She snarled, stomping her foot and threateningly pointing at the crew, who seemed completely unfazed by Momo's antics. Yuzu withdrew her hand quickly before it became caught in Momo's rage. She continued to shout at them. "YOU LYING IDIOTS!" I suspected she was having a worse day than I was, this was not the first time she had lost her cool today, or even in this hour. "IDIOTS!" Once Momo was finished ranting, she was breathing hard and face still a particularly vibrant hue of red, she stomp over to the our panzer and leaned up against it for a moment, standing farther rear then either Hana or me, followed by Yuzu and Anzu after her. Then one of the boys stepped forward from the group, attracting our attention. He was smaller than the other boys, with longer black hair and seemed less articulate about his actions, and was something of an improvement from the boastful looking 'Commander'. He glanced over the assorted crowd before him before speaking.

"Uhh... Could you tip our vehicle over?" He requested, his speech awkward and hesitant. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this, due to my incident with their leader, I had assumed that none of them knew our language at all, which would be absolutely horrible, without even considering combat. I guess today couldn't be all bad.

"Well, let's right their panzer then!" I shouted, jumping from the side of the panzer onto the ground. It was only moments before the rest of the teams also went into action. Me, Hana and Saori unhitched the tow cable on our panzer, and then attempted to wrap it around the tipped panzer's turret. I escaped from the work for a moment to have a word with the shorter black haired boy. I finally got to properly introduce myself.

"Miho Nishizumi." I said, slightly bowing as I did. The boy glanced off to the side for a moment before answering, likely to collect his thoughts.

"Adley Yoshimoto, radio operator." Even though his language was rough and erratic, this was still great news, just the position where he'd be the most useful too! Although, his name did seemed somewhat strange, although I couldn't quite determine why.

"I guess you're the new crew we were to get?" I inquired, but was only given a nod in return, although I suspected he understood my words. "Well welcome to Oorarai." I added, smiling, a smile which he return, before I stepped away and he was enveloped by his compatriots again. He seemed like a nice person. I then walked over to Rabbit Team, who had begun to dismount their panzer and asked if they could maneuver themselves to the other side of the panzer and pull it upright. They complied, Karina and Azusa quickly embarking, while the rest of Rabbit Team stood about, ogling the newest addition to the school's team. Meanwhile, Karina had started up the Lee's engine, while Azusa directed her actions and began reversing until they were behind the panzer, traversed and after some positioning work, found themselves idling while facing away from the panzer, prime to be hooked to the tow cable and pull it upright. Yukari was helping Hana attach the tow cable to Rabbit Team, while down the road, it seemed as Duck Team was doing the same to Turtle Team's knocked out panzer, which was still smoking a bit. As the towing cable which had been slipped around the panzer's sideways turret was secured to the rear of the Lee, everyone about the area was moved towards the sides of the streets, myself included. Then the Lee heaved forwards, dragging the little panzer back the way it had came before it caught hold of some abnormality in the road surface, halting both of the panzers. The Lee paused for a moment, idling, before Karina revved the engine again, throwing the Lee forward, the other panzer following behind, slowly beginning to prop itself up, the Lee struggling to keep its forward momentum. After a struggle, the Lee pulled the panzer upright, and the little panzer rocking on its suspension a few times as it did and almost being pulled over the other way before Karina halted. Then Yukari, Ayumi and I jogged over and unhitched the steel cord connecting the two, and coiled it up. I then help them lift it off the ground and up into our arms and started back towards the Panzer IV, a good thirty meters or so away, however quickly I managed to trip over something, possibly the same raise that caught the little panzer. I attempted to recover as speedily as possible, but before I could, Yukari insisted that they had it covered. I started back towards the group wandering about the edge of the street, and found Adley, who with the rest of his crew.

"Could you get back in your panzer and follow us?" I inquired, surprising him slightly. He nodded, and I smiled in return. I then quickly turned about. "Mount up!" I called, and quickly the teams began to return towards their respective panzers and embark one at a time. When I returned to my own panzer, I found that, again, Mako hadn't left her position, while Yukari and Ayumi had successfully returned the tow cable, and afterwards Yukari had climbed into her position long before I had called for everyone to mount up, while Ayumi had scampered off towards Rabbit Team once I had. When I arrived at the side of the Panzer IV, I quickly clambered up the side of our panzer and lowered myself inside. I was about to ask Mako to turn the engine over, however it seemed she had yet to turn the engine off, also I could hear the continuous chatter on the radio. I asked through it.

"Duck Team, are you all hooked up?"

"All ready!" Noriko yelled, unaware I assumed, to have heard the unusual news regarding our new team.

"How about Hippo Team?" I asked, a replied coming almost immediately from Erwin.

"Ready and waiting!"There was still quite a lot that didn't add up regarding this, but that would have to be sorted out later. Right now, priority number one: getting back to campus and review the damage done to Turtle Team, since our match was in only two days. And to boot, the only advantage we had gained from losing one of our very essential panzers was another panzer, although I still wasn't quite sure what it was, exactly. It was obviously an American panzer in origin, although the actual vehicle was unknown to me, then again I did have a person with quite a advanced knowledge of all things Panzerkraft.

"Hey Yukari?" I asked, removing myself from the buzzing radio chatter.

"Yeah?" She replied, turning around to face me.

"What kind of panzer was that?" I requested. There was a moment where she sat looking contemplative, before opening her hatch and sticking her upper body out. I assume she was looking at the panzer, and after a moment, dropped herself back into her seat and closed the hatch.

"It's a Stuart. But that's about all I can tell you." She answered.

"A Stuart?" Hana asked, genuinely interested.

"M3 Stuart. Light tank that had comparable functionality as the Panzer 38 (t). But, I think it's a modernized version, I doubt the original had the sloped frontal glacis." She explained, looking proud of her knowledge. I guess it was kind of strangely ironic that we gain something almost equivalent to what we lost, although I still would have preferred the M26 we should have gotten.

"Well it's better than nothing!" Saori pipped in, trying valiantly to stay positive, or at least energetic. She was quite good at doing that.

"Mako, could you line up behind Hippo Team?" I asked, attempting to reform our previous formation in preparation to return to the school.

"Sure." She replied, the panzer heaving forward about ten meters and then stopping and traversing so it was in line with the STuG ahead of it. Then the Stuart scooted in behind us, followed by Rabbit Team a few moments later and Duck Team finally arriving in the rear of our caravan, tugging the Panzer 38 (t) behind on a metal line. Then I ordered our little formation to begin the journey back to the Sensha-do shed, Hippo Team starting off at our standard pace for non-combat situations. However, only a moment later, the entire panzer was rocked by an impact, a relatively soft one, but an impact none the same. I opened the commander's hatch and swung round to find that the Stuart had bumped into us, and their commander was also turned out, my guess looking for damage. I found nothing damaged, and so I dropped back down into the nice interior, and ordered, again, to start off. The panzer may have been equal to Turtle Team, but I still would have preferred them to this 'Stuart'.


End file.
